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Written in fRoots issue 352, Oct 2012


ZYKOPOPS
Z Is For Zykopops
Zykopops 885767232549 (2012)

Mild-mannered British producer, violinist and violin dealer Martin Swan, perhaps best known for leading the Scottish Gaelic band Mouth Music, found himself in Croatia producing, and indeed for a while playing with, the mighty roots-rock band Kries. Singer Lidija Dokuzovic is one of Croatia’s most prominent trad-roots singers, particularly in the band Afion and also for her work with Ethno Croatia. Between them, the two have come up with Zykopops, which they sum up with the great tag-line “Even worse than turbo-folk”.
     It isn’t turbo-folk (which would take too long to explain here – Google it); what Zykopops do is re-energised versions of popular traditional songs from across former Yugoslavia, performed with mighty appealing gusto pleasingly unfettered by the restrictions of good musical taste. It’s cunningly and skilfully made nevertheless, and full of memorable, hooky, chunky-riffed songs, bright ideas and wild-squeeing breaks. Try the infectious groove of Ramo Ramo for a starter, a track that surely deserves to be a hit, but the whole CD bursts with vitality, variety and freedom.
     Prior to Zykopops I’d thought of Dokuzovic as a fine, controlled singer with extensive knowledge of and feeling for traditional music; in Zykopops she cuts loose as a tight-dressed, all-out rock diva, and she does it with all the naturalness and stagecraft of one born to boogie. Apart from her lead vocals and producer Swan’s violin, mandola and accordion, the line-up includes guitarist Erol Zejnilovic, bassist Konrad Lovrencic plus percussion, drums, trumpet and beatbox.
     The CD captures the spirit of what I’ve seen of the band in sweaty-cellar, red-hued live YouTube videos (for example, Google them doing a powerful Ramo Ramo at Zagreb’s KSET Club) and affirms that here’s something new for Croatia, tearing with liberated, infectious fun through the wall of Euro-bland tack that seems to still dominate the country’s media music and well-destined to get worldwide festival and club audiences wild and dancing.
     Nice witty line in cod-academic-analytic-dialectic-bollocks in the liner notes, too.

www.zykopops.com


© 2012 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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